Rally of the French People

The Rally of the French People (RPF) was a Gaullist political party in France that was active from 1947 to 1955. The party was founded by Charles de Gaulle in Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine on 14 April 1947, and De Gaulle intended for the RPF to be a rally of members from several different parties (except for members of the French Communist Party and former Vichy politicians), rather than contributing to the divide in France caused by party politics. The RPF gained the support of the royalists of Action Francaise, leftist republicans, moderates, Christian democrats, radicals, and even socialists and communists, but most of its voters came from the right-wing electorate. In 1947, the RPF won elections in the cities of Lille, Marseille, Bordeaux, Stasbourg, Rennes, Versailles, Le Mans, and Nancy, and De Gaulle's brother Pierre de Gaulle was elected Mayor of Paris in 1947. However, the Popular Republican Movement continued to dominate rural France, and the party's electoral success was limited by the media. In 1949, the RPF narrowly won the cantonal elections, and it also won the 1951 election. However, the party lost several cities (including Marseille and Lille) in the 1953 elections, and it also lost several party members. The authoritarian handling by party leadership contributed to its decline, and the party was dissolved in 1955, with most going on to found the Union for the New Republic.